Indigo Mushroom Farm...

So a belated Laos post but one I have been really meaning to do...

We mentioned in a previous post that we went to Indigo Farm which belonged to one of my student's family.

We had a lovely shared lunch by the lake - the mushroom soup was amazing and so was the stir fried mushrooms.

Yummy lunch - shared lunches really are a highlight!

Todd and the boys had a paddle boat on the lake - odd but fun!

We headed off to explore the farm and there was a lovely big 'friends' swing.

Then we got to the mushroom shed...

It was super impressive!

They had already picked for the day so the pictures aren't that impressive but basically the mushrooms grow out the neck of the bag and are picked from there.

The shed was massive and had a few different types of mushrooms growing on different racks.

The bags are filled with coconut husks and wood shavings.

They are soaked in water which is full of mushroom spores.

They are then steamed / boiled over heat for a few hours.

With the exception of the plastic bags it is a pretty local and sustainable outfit.

Woodshavings, coconut husks and local spores... 

No one spoke much English so I am not sure why they do the boiling but perhaps to imitate the heat of the forest floor?

It all reignighted my passion for 'shrooms!

Then a visit to the flowers that they use to make their weird signature sticky rice.

Just because it comes from flowers and is natural doesn't make it a good idea in my mind! 

Eating blue food is just not quite right I reckon!